TellyTubby Sainsburys to Move

Freaky – just as my computer pinged and someone asked if I’d had a leaflet about this, the thing popped through my door…

I guess whether you welcome Sainsburys eco-store closing so they can build a giant new one down the road will, to some extent at least, depend on where you live.

Anyone Greenwich side of the current store will probably, like me, sigh and count the extra walking time to get a pint of milk and a bag ‘o buns (unless they’re local shopkeepers who will be rubbing their hands with glee – certainly my local corner shop will do much better, especially if he stops only stocking non-free-range eggs, which I’ve told him on many an occasion I will not buy under even the most egg-strapped circumstances…)

Anyone Charlton side will probably be rather pleased, given the land’s been empty for years and my dream of it being levelled and turned into a gorgeous walled garden centre was always unlikely to come true.

So where is the magical newly re-named ‘Meridian Site’? Well – several degrees east of the actual Meridian, I can tell you that.

Well, I have to say the map they supply isn’t very clear. Here it is:

It looks to me like it’s the bit where Wickes and a load of old warehouses currently reside, though at first I thought it might be that big walled area behind ASDA.

They promise a giant shopping experience with TU clothes (whoo-bloomin’-hoo) homewares, a cafe and an ‘Explore Learning Centre,’ which apparently will teach extra maths and English to kiddies.

Personally I have no real objection to the building of a whopping great store on the site of well, not very much really, but I do feel a bit fed up that the old building will be let to a ‘non-food retailer.’ I know why that is, of course, and it is good news for Greenwich’s smaller shopkeepers, but it will make shopping for all the dull items like toilet rolls and washing powder into a right royal palaver for most people west of the A102(M).

They’re having the usual consultation, on Friday 21st, and Saturday 22nd October at Valley House, 445 Woolwich Road, SE7 7EP

the attachments to this post:

Sainsbury map

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2011 at 10:41 am and is filed under Regional Greenwich, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

It looks like the area just before Wickes that’s been empty for years – where the ‘old’ old MFI was before it moved to the Charlton retail park.
Can’t see what the advantage is going to be, other than it’ll be on the main road.. People local to there will be in the habit of shopping at Asda, and folks west of and on the penninsular could switch to Asda as it’ll be nearer..

According to a source I can’t remember….it’s because the heat exchange thingy in the basement keeps flooding and I think this is what knocked out the freezers recently.
I can’t think why a building built on a Marsh would flood, can you?
In all fairness, the new site also makes economic sense for Sainsbury’s as it’s in the middle of the established Retail area with better passing traffic. Can’t say that Asda will be too pleased though…..

A plug for local shops …. The Theatre of Wine (will deliver), the Co-op (organic free range eggs, Truly Irresistable Range etc) and the lovely Salumeria for great bread and Italian specialities. Who needs Sainsburys?

hmmmm, Theatre of Wine (lovely but nothing less than a tenner), the Co-op (more ethical but queues snaking around the shop) Salumeria (man can not live by lovely bread and Italian specialities alone) Tesco (nothing labelled properly, too big a company anyway) Asda (SCREAMING kids all day every day, and dubious quality meat), endless corner/convenience shops (ok for tins of baked beans I suppose), Sainsburys moving (those of us who don’t own a car and quite like the walk to the peninsula and back wondering where best to shop…)

On the other hand, empty shops galore on Trafalgar Road with no sign of a decent greenegrocers or a good butcher. The search continues. As do trips to Thamesmead Morrisons for the best meat/fish/veg selection of the lot.

No announcement from Waitrose though- I don’t think it’s a done-deal that they’ll open in Greenwich. Fingers crossed nevertheless…

The “eco” credentials of the peninsula Sainsbury’s are a bit of a joke now; supermarket buildings are supposed to last 30+ years, not 12. I’ve always hated it though, so don’t care.

I use the Creaky Shed and Rhodes from time to time and ‘top-up’ on bog rolls and cat food at the Coop (where cauliflower is an exotic delicacy and a delivery of semi-skimmed milk is treated with the excitement of a first-born child) and (wildly overpriced) Sainsbury’s Local, but getting Waitrose at the Wharf to deliver after pushing a trolley round works best for me. Online is just too uninspiring.

I’d like to use Theatre of wine, but it’s too expensive. (OR my taste is insufficiently refined to shed my addiction to M&S six quid a litre screw-top Italian red. Yes, that’s the problem).

Thats the only problem with the local places which I would LOVE to shop at on a more regular basis and support. The prices are just too high for my meagre finances for them to ever be a regular contender.
I would love to get my meat from the butchers each week and vegetables from the Creaky Shed whenever I am short, fish from the fish shop and pick up a slice or two of gorgeous cheese – I think the quality and service is far superior to the likes of faceless Tesco’s or Sainsburys… but at the end of the day it is accessible range of procucts and, ultimately, price that dictates my shopping.

Hitherqueen: Theatre of Wine does have wines under a tenner, though their displays do focus on the pricier stuff. I just finished the last of a case of Uruguay red, definitely under £10 and very nice too. Their website shows about 50 reds under a tenner but I suspect they are not all in stock.
I must be lucky at the Coop, I have never seen a check-out queue snaking round the shop – it usually takes me longer to pay at M&S at Blackheath Standard.
And what’s wrong with the the newish greeengrocer a few doors from Boots? Limited range but good quality I have found.
While people keep shopping at the big supermarkets the local shops will struggle.

One of the (few) advantages of Sainsburys at the moment is that it’s very well served by buses which stop right outside the front door. The proposed new site is going to be an absolute nightmare for anyone without a car unless the buses are re-routed, and I can’t see that happening any time soon. And whilst it’s lovely to shop locally for wine, bread, meat, cheeses etc, man cannot live by bread (and cheese) alone. Sainsbury’s is brilliant for stocking up on things like loo roll and cleaning products – just the stuff you really don’t want to have to carry half a mile to the nearest bus stop.

I’m probably biased but I’m in favour of the move as I live just up from Victoria Way and feel depressed every time I have to walk or drive down to that part of Woolwich Road. It’s like an overgrown bomb site with boarded up houses standing in a lonely line amongst wasteland and a couple of dodgy looking pubs. If it helps to improve the area even slightly then it’s all good in my book.

As for bus routes, there’s a fair few that go down that stretch of Woolwich Road, though I guess they’re only useful if they also stop near your house. I agree it’s lovely to shop locally – I use the butcher and greengrocer at the Standard and The Cheeseboard when I’m over West Greenwich way.

Englishrose – if you’re just using Sainsburys for the dull and heavy stuff like cleaning products, why not order online? Most delivery slots will set you back less than a return bus journey so no need to struggle back to the bus stop with your bog rolls!

Who can afford Sainsbury’s, anyway ? If more of us shopped at Aldi (Catford & Thamesmead) and Lidl (Catford & Woolwich), the big boys’ prices would have to go down. Yes, young purists, you need a car really to get to either – but the quality (especially at Aldi) is as good or better and the prices very noticeably lower.

By the way, see today’s TIMES (p.3, 17 October) for the lowdown on how Tesco are fixing and financing their latest so-called Price War.
At last – the Murdoch press performs a public service !!

I do find the conflict between the “too expensive” comments regarding local shops, and the lower priced alternatives interesting. If our continued drive is for ever cheaper commodities @Ikepot, all we’ll have are bland High St chains (not to mention screwing the livelihood out of the actual producers of the commodities!)
How about a drive for quality over cost (i know there is a limit when it comes to affordability). I’d rather buy a bottle of wine once a month/fortnight from ToW and actually like it and treat it as something special, than spending £6 on crap plonk. I treat food the same and enjoy trips to local shops and market as a treat, even though you can’t get a whole chicken to roast for £2…

I haven’t looked at it in detail, but I would have thought that the proposed Sainsbury site was actually better served by busses if you look at both directions and the possibility that they may have stops on both main roads due to the shops size?? ie, East Greenwich currently has 129 access, and would get 177 and 180 (and much higher frequency too). It is only 0.7 miles down the road from the current one.